World Watch Archive / October 2007
Azerbaijan
Persecution of reporter continues
Hakim Eldostu Mehdiyev, reporter for Yeni Musavat, has continued to receive threats, reported the Institute for Reporters’ Freedom and Safety (IRFS) in Azerbijan. On October 17, Mehdiyev received an anonymous call telling him to protect himself and that all of his and his family’s private information is under review. This negative attention, it is believed, stems from Mehdiyev’s publicly talking about a story — the day before he held a conference at the IRFS press center about his current struggles.
A month ago, trouble started for Mehdiyev when National Security Ministry employees beat and threatened him to stop his reporting on social problems in the Sharur region. After making that event public, ministry employees arrested Mehdiyev, further beat him and released him after four days. His family’s teahouse and small shop were also totally destroyed.
Mehdiyev is appealing to the president and several ministers to stop the persecution, allow him to work and live safely in Nakhchivan — the city he lives in — and requesting that his family’s property be restored.
Azeri Reporter Imprisoned
Local police and Ministry of National Security employees arrested Hakim Eldostu Mehdiyev, a correspondent for Yeni Musavat, a Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic newspaper on Sept. 23, from his home in the Jalilkand village in the Sharur region of the autonomous republic.
A few hours after his arrest, Mehdiyev called his brother, Nariman, and told him that he was being taken to court to be sentenced for 15 days for resisting police. He added that he was not given the opportunity to have a lawyer and was going to begin a hunger strike.
Mehdiyev also said that employees of the National Security Ministry had abducted him by car and taken him to an unknown location the day before. At the location he was beaten and insulted by the ministry’s chief, telling him, “Who do you think you are, writing about the region’s gas and electricity problems?”
Mehdiyev is known for stories on the social problems in the Sharur region and was told that if he reported the kidnapping/beating he would be incarcerated. Mehdiyev reported the beating and said that he would have the injuries officially documented Monday Sept. 24, since weekends are not workdays. The arrest was carried through to prevent the documentation.
After the arrest, ministry employees also shut down and destroyed Nariman’s teahouse and their family store because, they say, it was a place for villagers to talk politics. The family also stated that they were being held under constant surveillance.
On Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. Mehdiyev was released, however, he said that while he was imprisoned he was beaten and tortured. Prison officials at the Boyuk Duz had not allowed visitors during his incarceration.
Mehdiyev finally received medical treatment Oct. 1, under a different identity, as doctors were afraid of treating him. They determined that Mehdiyev suffered a broken rib and a severely bruised rib on his left side.
Court Verdict Executors Beat Reporter
Suhayla Gamberova, a reporter for the newspaper Impuls, is revoering in Musa Nagiyeva Hospital's Neurology-Traumatoloty Department after sustaining beatings fro mcourt verdict executors, reported the Institute for Reporter Freedom and Safety. Gamberova was covering a story about court verdict executors evicting people from their homes without a court decision in hand. She, along with evicted residetns, was beaten when she asked the executors for the court decision. Gamberova's sister, Bahar, who was also there said that her sister was forced into an apartment, pushed to the floor, kicked in the head and the rest of her body. Suhayla Gamberova filed an appeal to the Nasimi District Police Department about the incident.
Bangladesh
Cartoon causes arrest
Arifur Rahman, a cartoonist who provided satirical supplements for a local newspaper, Prothom Alo, was arrested in Dhaka on Sept. 17 over a cartoon that played on the name Mohammed.
The government press department said the cartoon “hurt religious sentiment,” and it seized all copies of the supplements. The newspaper apologized and fired the supplement’s deputy editor.
Belarus
Journalists Arrested in Belarus due to Protest
On October 9, police arrested Ivan Roman, of Radio Racyja and editor of the Polski na Uchodzstwie magazine, and sentenced him to five days in jail for using “filthy language.” Before his trial (which was closed to journalists), Roman told Reporters Without Borders that his arrest was “directly linked to the European march planned for October 14 in Minsk.”
Roman went on a hunger strike to protest the action. Police arrested another reporter, Ihar Bantsar, and at least 18 other activists, under the same pretense. This type of preventative measure is similar to five other arrests earlier in the year.
At least 5,000 people attended the peaceful demonstration against President Alexander Lukashenko, in which opposition leader, Alexander Milinkevich, called for Belarus to act like other countries in Europe that allow free elections and free citizenry.
Brussels
E.U debating access law
A group of 14 specialists from the Council of Europe refused to make changes on a draft of the treaty on Access to Official Documents, which would open the right to request access to all documents held by the judicial and legislative branches of government.
In a 10-to-4 vote, the proposal would have brought the European Convention on Access to Official Documents in line with the prevailing standards in the 47 countries of the Council of Europe, according to the International freedom of Expression Exchange.
After the meeting, held in Strasbourg October 9-12, the specialists rejected further discussion on the topic.
The draft treaty will pass on to the Council of Europe's Steering Committee on Human Rights (CDDH) for further discussion Nov. 8.
Civil society groups, such as Access Info Europe, ARTICLE 19 and the Open Society Justice Initiative, are calling on the CDDH to reject the treaty as it stands, and to either pass the proposed improvements or have the specialists continue their discussion on the draft.
Helen Darbishire, Director of Access Info Europe, said “Rather than acting as independent specialists, a number of members of the Group have openly stated that they have instructions from their governments to ensure that the future Convention requires no changes to domestic law. The result is a draft treaty that accommodates the flaws and idiosyncratic features of the domestic legislation of countries represented in the Group, and hence falls below prevailing standards. This is a betrayal of the Group's mandate.”
Burma
Burmese government cracks down on information flow
Burmese journalists imprisoned since crackdown on monk protests; Internet blocked by the government
Since the military junta threatened to crack down on protests by monks and dissents, six Burmese journalists have been incarcerated.
According to Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association, there have been 24 serious violations of press freedom, including arrests and assaults.
The Burmese government’s is also cracking down on internet content. The military junta is filtering opposition websites. The Internet restrictions have cut the number of active blogs to almost zero, with only a handful able to continue publishing via third parties. One Burmese blogger, called Dathana, wrote: “[Mobile] phone lines and some land lines were also cut.”
According to Reporters Without Borders study in 2005 claimed Burma’s Internet restrictions were among the most worst in the world. “The state maintains the capability to conduct surveillance of communication methods … and block users viewing websites of political opposition groups,” said a report from the academic body OpenNet Initiative.
Canada
Canadian FOI requests fall short
Almost half of all public information requests in Canada are not met according to the third annual 2007 Freedom of Information Audit conducted by the Canadian Newspaper Association.
Over a two-month period, reporters from more than 30 Canadian newspapers requested public records from federal, provincial and municipal courts. Information requested included water quality, criminal records and energy data among others. Reporters filed information requests in written form and in-person.
“That patchwork of service provides solid evidence of the confusion surrounding information requests, and a reluctance to assist the public, that pervades official channels. Bureaucrats and politicians seemingly don't want anyone looking over their shoulder, prying into possible mistakes, and airing embarrassing findings,” reported the Toronto Star, a participant in the study.
Overall, the government agencies released 59 percent of the information as requested. Of 32 written requests, 60 percent were denied. Of 85 initial in-person visits, 48 percent were denied.
Whether through fear of making a mistake or as an instinctively defensive reaction, they frequently force the requestor to formally request the information under the access law, even when the law says such information should normally be disclosed.,” according to the report.
China
Report: China Tightening Censorship on the Interne
To coincide with the 17th five-yearly Chinese Communist Party Congress this week, Reporters Without Borders and Chinese Human Rights Defenders have released a report on the Internet censorship in China. A Chinese Internet expert working in IT industry produced the report, and the author prefers to remain anonymous, according to Reporters Without Borders. The report talks mainly about online censorship, surveillance and propaganda. Chinese government has recently become tougher on the Internet monitoring system.
Starting September, a policeman and a policewoman pop up on Web pages every 30 minutes and patrol Beijing's gateway websites, accepting complaints in the cyber world.
“With less than a year to go to the Beijing Olympic Games, this report lifts the veil on appalling practices in China that make it one of the World Wide Web's most repressive countries,” the report says in the introduction.
Colombia
Politics loses place on community radio
The Communications Ministry of Columbia has banned political broadcasts on community radio for three months through municipal and departmental elections in October, according to Reporters Without Borders.
An August 13 newsletter announced the law, which prohibited political “proselytism”. In 2003 the Ministry of Communication defined political “proselytism” as any activity intended to win favor for a political faction or doctrine that is religious and/or political or any that persecutes the beliefs of groups or organizations. This, a newsletter released by the government explains, is against the character of community radio broadcasting.
The ruling is based on article 23 from Law 130 passed in 1994.
The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters condemned the announcement immediately, “AMARC strongly condemns the Colombian government's decision to violate freedom of expression and information by imposing prior censorship, through restricting in an arbitrary and unconstitutional manner community media's right to cover various electoral proposals, conduct interviews and promote debates between the different political parties.”
Dubai
Journalists released on bail
Two Dubai journalists were released on bail on Sept. 25 after being sentenced to two-months in prison for libel. They are appealing the conviction. The journalists are former editor of the English-language paper Khaleej Times Shimba Kassiril Ganjadahran, and reporter Mohsen Rashed.
Two days prior to the arrest, prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum “issued instructions … not to imprison journalists for reasons related to their work,” said the head of the National Media Council, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan in a report by Agence France-Presse.
AFP reported that Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad said “other measures can be taken to penalize a journalist who has committed a particular violation,” and that he is seeking to speed the ratification of an amendment that dismisses imprisonment as a penalty for press offences.
Ganjadahran and Rashed, were accused of libeling an Iranian- born Dubai woman by reporting on 28 June last year that she had sued her husband, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The case will continue on Oct. 25.
East Africa
The East Africa Journalists Association is reborn
The Eastern Africa Journalists' Association (EAJA) was officially re-launched at a summit in Djibouti on September 29 and 30. The group aims to foster press freedom, improve journalists' safety and security and promote conflict resolution in the region.
In a press released posted online by the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), who hosted the summit, Omar Faruk Osman, NUSOJ Secretary General and member of the International Federation of Journalists had this to say:
“The aim is to revive and strengthen Eastern Africa journalists Association and to improve collaboration and coordination of common programs and goals, and develop strategies for addressing key issues affecting freedom of press and freedom of expression in Eastern Africa.”
Leaders of journalists' unions and associations from Djibouti, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Tanzania and the semi-autonomous South Sudan drew up a 10-point Declaration and a plan of action, focusing on finding a long term solution to the violence and insecurity in the Eastern Africa sub-region. They also elected five officials to steer the EAJA agenda over the next three years.
Eritrea
Six years of oppression
On Sept. 18 the African nation of Eritrea marked six years of government sponsored media oppression. On that day in 2001, according to Reporters Without Borders, the Eritrean government ordered all privately owned media organizations to be closed and executives and editors were imprisoned. Since then hundreds of people and journalists who were deemed as opponents to the government have been held in an unknown location in conditions that escapees describe as atrocious.
Journalists who become suspect are either forced to flee the country or face arrest. Families of those who have fled are exposed to government retaliation that includes arrest and imprisonment.
Paulos Kidane of Amharic-language service of state-owned Eri-TV and radio Dimtsi Hafash (Voice of the Broad Masses) spoke to Reporters Without Borders about his experience with the government last year: “We were beaten and tortured in prison for refusing to give the passwords to our email accounts. In the end we cracked because the pain was too much.”
Kidan was killed in June 2007 while attempting to flee to Sudan.
France
Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Inde
Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Paris-based international organization that advocates press freedom, released its 2007 index measuring press freedom in countries around the world on Oct. 16. Among the 169 countries on the list, Eritrea ranks last while North Korea, China, and Burma still rank near the bottom of the index; North Korea ranks 168, China 163, Burma 164.
“We are particularly disturbed by the situation in Burma (164th),” Reporters Without Borders said. “The military junta’s crackdown on demonstrations bodes ill for the future of basic freedoms in this country. Journalists continue to work under the yoke of harsh censorship from which nothing escapes, not even small ads. We also regret that China (163rd) stagnates near the bottom of the index. With less than a year to go to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the reforms and the releases of imprisoned journalists so often promised by the authorities seem to be a vain hope,” Reporters Without Borders said. There were no reports regarding the press freedom index on China’s official news agency, Xinhua News Agency, and North Korea’s official news agency, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Of the 20 countries that are at the bottom of the index, seven are from Asia (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Laos, Vietnam, China, Burma, and North Korea), five from Africa (Ethiopia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Somalia and Eritrea), four from the Middle East (Syria, Iraq, Palestine Territories and Iran), three from the former Soviet bloc (Belarus, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan), and one from South America (Cuba). The RSF press freedom index has been running for consecutive six years since 2001.
Haiti
Another gang member arrested in Haitian journalist
Police are continuing to arrest suspected participants in the 2005 murder of Haitian journalist Jacques Roche, according to Reporters Without Borders. Roche was kidnapped and beaten before he was killed on July 14 2005.
A joint effort between local police and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti arrested alleged gang member Wensley Boshomme on 8 October in Port-au-Prince. Boshomme is a suspected member of a Port-au-Prince gang based in the Cité Soleil neighborhood, where he was arrested.
Reporters Without Borders noted that Boshomme had escaped from the national penitentiary on 19 February 2005, and police claim to have enough evidence to convict him for Roche’s murder.
Boshomme is also known by the names “Zachary Occeda”
Honduras
Possible reform of defamation laws
The National Congress is seeking to reform Honduran defamation laws against working journalists.
Honduras’ daily newspaper El Heraldo reported that the proposal sent to the Supreme Court followed recent defamation suits that Marcelo Chimirri, director of Hondutel (a Honduran telecommunications company), had filed against six journalists.
Earlier in the month, several judges had unanimously rejected Chimirri charges against five journalists who had reported on an alleged fraud involving international phone calls.
The journalists include Renato Álvarez and Rossana Guevara, of Televicentro, Melissa Amaya and Juan Carlos Funes, of Radio Cadena Voces, and Carlos Mauricio Flores, editor of El Heraldo. Judges in San Pedro Sula, North-West of Honduras, had yet to reach a verdict regarding the sixth journalist, Nelson Fernández, managing editor of the daily La Prensa.
Iran
Activist arrested yet again
Emadeddin Baghi, an Iranian rights activist and leading prisoners’ right advocate was arrested Oct. 15 on charges of “propaganda against the government” and violating national security,” the World Press organization reported.
His lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, said that Baghi was also accused of “publishing secret government documents obtained with the help of prisoners held for security violations in special centres.” according to Reporters Without Borders.
This isn’t Baghi’s first arrest. In 2000, he was given a three-year sentence for “attacking national security.”
A Tehran revolutionary court sentenced him to another year in prison on Nov. 2004 when he wrote a book accusing the Iranian authorities of involvement in the murders of intellectuals and journalists in 1998. In 2003, his newspaper, Joumhouriat, was closed by the government.
An anti-death penalty campaigner, Baghi won a French government human rights prize in 2005.
Website shut down by court
Iran's judiciary has shut down the offices of a popular news website, Baztab.com after it was critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reported Reuters on Sept. 24.
The site, published in both English and Farsi, has reported on Iran’s nuclear industry, on corruption, and has criticized President Ahmadinejad's for his decision to hold a conference questioning the veracity of the Holocaust.
The site was first closed down in February, but was still available to Internet users outside Iran until its offices were sealed.
The offices reopened in March, but the owners of the website have been in conflict with the Iranian government ever since.
Reporters Without Borders reported that the Iranian parliament began discussing on Sept. 23 whether websites should be regulated in the same way as other media outlets.
Under Ahmadinejad's rule, shutdowns have affected not only moderate dailies such as Shargh and Ham Mihan, but also conservative publications, including ultra-hard-line Siyasat-e Ruz and the governmental Iran newspaper.
Iraq
Two more journalists murdered in Iraq
The recent murder of two journalists in Iraq brings the number of journalist’s deaths to 205 since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, according to Reporters Without Borders.
Salih Saif Aldin, 32, a Washington Post reporter since 2004, was shot Oct. 14 in the south Baghdad neighborhood of Saydiya. He was covering the Shiite-Sunni violence and was shot at a close range while photographing fire-damaged houses, according to the Washington Post. (http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/mideast/iraq15oct07na.html)
Unidentified gunmen killed freelancer Dhi Abdul-Razak al-Dibo in an ambush near the city of Kirku on Oct. 15. His two bodyguards were injured in the attack, according to International Freedom of Expression exchange. (http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/87025/)
“We condemn this deplorable attack, which is a fresh reminder of why Iraq remains the most dangerous place in the world for journalists, especially Iraqis,” Executive Director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, Joel Simon said. “Accounts that Salih Saif Aldin may have been murdered by Iraqi soldiers are alarming, and they demand swift action by the Iraqi government in providing answers and ensuring those responsible are brought to justice.” (http://www.cpj.org/news/2007/mideast/iraq15oct07na.html)
Martial Arts for journalists working in Iraq
On Sept. 23, Iraqi broadcast journalist Jawad al-Daami, of the satellite TV station Al-Baghdadiya, was shot dead in Baghdad. Three days earlier, on Sept. 20, Muhannad Ghanem Ahmed, of radio Dar Al Salam was gunned down near a mosque in the Muharibin suburb in the northern city of Mosul.
In the face of dangerous working conditions, the Iraqi Journalists Union wants to give martial arts and survival courses to help its members cope with the situation, the Associated Press reported.
The courses will also teach photographers and TV crews how to lower their profile and hide their equipment when traveling. “We feel that it's our duty to protect the remaining Iraqi journalists who are constantly facing the danger of assassination and kidnapping,” said union leader Shihab al-Timimi to The Associated Press. The courses will be held in Baghdad, Basra in the south and Irbil in the north. According to Reporters Without Border, 203 media workers have been killed and 83 kidnapped, since the Iraq fighting began more than four years ago. 14 of the kidnapped are still being held.
Mexico
Newspaper delivery workers murdered
On Oct. 8, assailants in an Equinox SUV chased down and blocked the path of a newspaper delivery van marked with the logo of Oaxaca daily El Imparcial del Istmo.
The delivery van had been driving on the highway around 1 p.m. after picking up newspapers from the Tehuantepec bus station (roughly 155 miles southwest of the city of Oaxaca). Gunmen exited the SUV, shot and killed the van’s driver Mateo Cortés Martínez and delivery workers Agustín López Nolasco and Flor Vásquez López.
Editor and Publisher, a magazine covering North American media, reported El Imparcial del Istmo’s regional director, Gonzalo Dominguez, received an anonymous death later that day.
El Imparcial del Istmo’s director, Benjamín Fernández Pichardo, said that the regional edition of the newspaper would continue to circulate despite threats.
The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a news alert the following day, noting that the paper had received numerous threatening e-mails and letters relating to its critical coverage of local drug trafficking gangs.
Moldova
TVR - Another Act of Moldovan Censorship
The Communist Party's leader and president of Moldova, Vladimir Voronin, shut down TVR1, a Romanian-language TV station, at the end of September, reported The Tiraspol Times. TVR1 representatives call the shut down illegal as they have a legal broadcast license that expires in 2011.
TVR1 officials appealed to the Moldova Audi-Video Coordination Council and cited the legal license and its up-to-date financial obligations as evidence that the shut down is both illegal and arbitrary. A Moldovan minority official, Vlad Turcanu, also sees the action as illegal and defended the station in the legislature.
This current action is reflective of an ongoing practice of growing censorship in what is considered the poorest country in Europe. Earlier this year, the government lowered TV Gaugauzia's signal to a point where few could receive the broadcast across the country. Also, one day before an election, an alternative news and information radio station critical of the current administration, Antenna-C, went off the air. The station has yet to return to the airwaves and Louis O'Neill, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Mission to Moldova, has voiced his concern about this and other events.
Nepal
Journalist abducted in Nepal
Briendra Shah, a reporter for Nepal FM, Dristi Weekly and Avenues TV, was abducted by the members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) on Oct. 5 in Bara district in central Nepal, said the Federation of Nepalese Journalists
Ramesh Bista, a central committee member of the Federation of Nepali, claimed Shah was abducted for writing and reporting news related to the Maoists.
According to Asian Human Rights Commission, Ram Dev Das, the editor of the magazine Terai Khabar Patrika, was also kidnapped at the same time as Shah. But he was released a few hours later after being beaten. Das said that Shah was also beaten severely and received death threats, according to the commission.
Krishna Mahara, the spokesman of Communist Party Nepal, said at a special parliamentary session on Oct. 11 that the party would not obstruct the government if it took action against the cadres involved, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Regional police chief Kiran Gautarn said the search for Shah continues. “As far as we know he is still alive,” he said.
Journalists concerned for Shah’s safety staged at a sit-in protest in front of the parliament on Oct. 11, according to CPJ.
Journalist’s death raises suspicions
Shankar Panthi, a correspondent for the local pro-Maoist daily newspaper, Naya Satta, was found dead on Sept. 14 at a roadside in Sunawal, the western district of Nawalparasi, reported CPJ.
Police have claimed that Panthi was the victim of a road accident, but according to the news site Kantipur online, villagers were seeking answers regarding the journalist’s “mysterious death,” with some locals suspicious that police took Panthi away without informing anyone.
The Young Communist League in Nepal has called for an autopsy to investigate further the death further.
Unions attack news organization
Kantipur Publications, Nepal's biggest private news organization, is facing violent attacks by unions affiliated to the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, according to Committee to Protect Journalists.
The action is the latest in a series of moves against major newspapers in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu.
Members of the Maoist-affliated All Nepal Communication, Printing and Publications Workers' Union sabotaged electrical installations at the Kantipur group's printing press on September 30. A Kantipur staff member said the unionists also tried to set fire to one of the group's buildings.
The distribution of organization's two papers, the Nepali-language daily Kantipur and its English-language sister paper The Kathmandu Post, were severely disrupted on Oct. 1 by the sabotage.
On the same day, Shalik Ram Jamkattel, a Maoist member of the interim parliament, threatened to kidnap a Kintipur executive, accusing the group of violating workers' rights.
Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday in a statement that the dispute was obviously not just about wage demands and condemned the intolerance of the Maoist unions.
Journalist abducted in Nepal
Briendra Shah, a reporter for Nepal FM, Dristi Weekly and Avenues TV, was abducted by the members of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) on Oct. 5 in Bara district in central Nepal, said the Federation of Nepalese Journalists
Ramesh Bista, a central committee member of the Federation of Nepali, claimed Shah was abducted for writing and reporting news related to the Maoists.
According to Asian Human Rights Commission, Ram Dev Das, the editor of the magazine Terai Khabar Patrika, was also kidnapped at the same time as Shah. But he was released a few hours later after being beaten. Das said that Shah was also beaten severely and received death threats, according to the commission.
Krishna Mahara, the spokesman of Communist Party Nepal, said at a special parliamentary session on Oct. 11 that the party would not obstruct the government if it took action against the cadres involved, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
Regional police chief Kiran Gautarn said the search for Shah continues. “As far as we know he is still alive,” he said.
Journalists concerned for Shah's safety staged at a sit-in protest in front of the parliament on Oct. 11, according to CPJ.
Niger
Journalist held without reason given
Moussa Kaka, director of privately owned Radio Saraouniya and Niger correspondent of Radio France Internationale was arrested on Sept. 20 and is being held in Niamey at the police headquarters.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Kaka was arrested at his radio station in Niamey and police searched his home, taking a copy of a report he had sent to RFI. Authorities have not disclosed why he was arrested or why he hasn’t been released.
Kaka’s station has provided coverage about the deadly attacks on military bases in the north by Tuareg rebels, a group affiliated with the Niger People’s Movement for Justice, and interviewed Agali Alambo, one of it top leaders. Kaka received public threats from army chief of staff General Moumouni Boureima in July and RFI’s local FM broadcasts were suspended for a month.
RFI president denounced the acts taken against Kaka by the Nigerian authorities, stating that by questioning the right journalists have to inform, undermines the freedom of the press. RFI argues that statements from the Nigerian authorities against RFI coverage of the ongoing conflict in the north are completely unfounded and RFI has done it’s best to remain objective and report the facts.
Pakistan
Journalist Protest Incites Police Brutality
Employees About 400 journalists and activists marched from a press club to parliament in Islamabad, calling attention to police brutality and their dissatisfaction with the government on Sept. 30.
The issue was brought to head after journalists, and others, protested the nomination of President Pervez Musharraf for another term, outside the Election Commission a day earlier. At that protest police used tear gas and a baton charge on the opposition group representing a pro-democracy movement, injuring dozens of people, including journalists, lawyers and a cabinet minister.
The Pakistani Supreme Court ordered the government's administrators to explain why such force was used.
Peru
Journalists convicted of criminal defamation
Judge Haydee Monzón, of the First Criminal Transitory Court of Lima, convicted four journalists at the daily newspaper La Republica for aggravated criminal defamation reported the International Freedom of Expression Exchange
Convicted journalists include: cartoonist Carlos Tovar Samanez (“Carlín”), journalists Ángel Páez and Edmundo Cruz and editor Gustavo Mohme Seminario
IFEX noted that the sentence includes a two-year suspended prison term and payment of 50,000 soles (US$ 16,000) in civil damages to the defendant, Gladys Barboza Peña, an official in the Department of the Interior.
IFEX also reported that judge Monzón made his ruling because La Republica did not consult Barboza Peña or request permission before using her official image in the insulting cartoons.
The Press and Society Institute particularly condemned the judge’s sentencing of the newspaper’s editor simply because of his position.
Military leaders sentenced in journalist’s 1988 mu
On Oct. 2, The National Criminal Bench of Peru found two military officials responsible for the Nov. 24 1988 murder of Hugo Bustíos, journalist and correspondent for Caretas magazine.
Víctor La Vera Hernández, commander and military chief of Huanta, Ayacucho, and Captain Amador Vidal Sanbento were sentenced to 17 and 15 years in prison, respectively. However, both men have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Accusations against military immediately followed Bustíos’ murder. Caretas Magazine published the testimony of seven witnesses on December 5, 1988. And the Inter-American Commission on Human rights chronicled the events surrounding his murder in a 1997 call for action.
In 2003, the government of Peru finally agreed to cooperate with commission’s demands for an investigation, reported the International Freedom of Expression Exchange in an Oct. 3 alert.
Bustíos was the President of the National Association of Journalists of Huanta, and he had been working on a series of articles critical of the military in the Huanta province of the Ayacucho region, roughly 200 miles southwest of Lima. He reported several mass graves in Huanta, and immediately preceding his death, Bustíos had been investigating the murder of a local man and son.
The Inter-American Commission’s report included eyewitness accounts from journalist Eduardo Rojas Arce, who was fired upon alongside Bustíos.
After military officials directed the journalists toward the scene they wanted to investigate, Arce said that: “A little further on, they started firing on us from the left side of the highway, hiding in the thick vegetation and in a half-destroyed house. Before the attack no word was spoken, nor was there any sign to halt, and all the shooting was to kill. I started to shout when I became aware of the attack, yelling that we were journalists. Despite this, they continued firing. Hugo Bustíos was the first to be hit. I was hit by two bullets on my left arm and on the left side of my abdomen.”
Guards fire on journalists
Employees of the National Penitentiary Institute fired breech-loading guns at journalists during a prison hunger strike on Sept. 14 in Chimbote, a town in northern Peru reported the International Freedom of Expression Exchange.
From guard towers, prison personnel shot at six journalists: Shirley Oliva Cuevas of La Industria de Chimbote, Alex Martínez Pajuelo of Diario de Chimbote, Abigail Díaz Moncada of El Trome, Patricia Cárdenas Ávalos of Correo, and camera operator Rody Idrogo Puelles and reporter Julio de Dios Farroñán, both from UCV satellite television station.
Pellets hit Abigail Díaz Moncada in the left leg, but Diario de Chimbote reported that the injury was not serious.
Local authorities investigated the incident. Prison Authorities admitted that the shots were intentional and said that the journalists should not have been photographing the prison.
By law, prison employees are justified in firing upon strangers who walk within 200 meters (656 feet) of the prison. Authorities claim that the law is common knowledge.
Philippines
Broadcaster injured in attack
Radio commentator Jose Cagalawan Pantoja was shot on Oct. 8 in Iligan City, in the southern province of Lanao del Norte.
According to Philippine Daily Inquirer, Pantoja was shot while accompanying his daughter to school. He was shot three times in the stomach and rushed to hospital. Police said he was in a critical condition.
Pantoja works at the dxLs Love Radio and has criticized local officials accused of corruption or misrule. He used to be one of the spokesmen of the congressional campaign of former Lanao del Norte governor, Imelda Dimaporo. Pantoja made an unsuccessful run for a council seat in Iligan last May.
On Oct. 12, Reporters Without Borders called on the government and provincial authorities to order an exhaustive investigation.
The National Union of Journalist of the Philippines http://www.nujp.org/ condemned Pantoja’s shooting. He was the ninth journalist this year to suffer a violent attack in the country, it said.
Russia
Politkovskaya Suspects Charged
Prosecutors have charged nine people in connection with the murder of reporter Anna Politkovskaya. Among those charged is Lieutenant Colonel Pavel Ryaguzov, of the Federal Security Service (FSB), reported the Interfax news agency.
Investigators believe that Ryaguzov gave details about Politkovskaya, including her address, to one of the other suspects, who then gave that information to the suspect who killed her.
Newspaper under threat for insulting Putin
Saratovsky Reporter, a Saratov-based newspaper is at danger of being closed by the pro-Putin United Russia party for publishing a cartoon depicting Putin as a Soviet Spy in a Nazi uniform.
The complaint against the newspaper was brought by United Russia's representative, Alexandre Lando, under article 319 of the criminal code concerning “insulting a state representative”, Reporters Without Border said.
Lando claimed the cartoon was “offensive to the president and to [me] as a voter.” The region's directorate for cultural affairs said that it has withdrawn the newspaper's license as a result of the complaint.
Editor in chief Sergei Mikhailov said that the court informed him of the complaint which is based on the Federal law on extremism, reported Topix, an online news agency.
According to the article 319, a court can order a newspaper's closure after it has been given two warnings.
Reporters Without Borders reported that this was the second written warning for the newspaper.
The first warning was in regards to a Sept.23 article about inter-ethnic relations in Russia. An expert report issued by a Saratov university at the prosecutor's request deemed the article to be “offensive” to the Jewish community.
Somalia
Radio Station bombed
Somali security forces attacked the offices of Radio Shabelle in Mogadshu on September 18 while staff of the radio station were inside. The security forces opened fire at 10 am according to Committee to Protect Journalists www.cpj.org/news/2007/africa/somalia18sep07na.html and did not stop until noon. No casualties were reported.
According to CPJ and the National Union of Somali Journalists www.nusoj.org, the assault began when a bomb from unknown insurgents exploded in the Bakara Market. Security forces have claimed that they believed the culprit to be inside the Radio Shabelle building, leading them to begin the bombardment.
Local journalists however have told NUSJ they suspect security forces specifically targeted Radio Shabelle, which has been critical of the militia and government in the nine-month-long insurgency in Mogadishu. Four days earlier forces raided the station and accusing 19 staff members of throwing a grenade at a police squad.
NUSJ reported that Radio Shabelle has closed the station and will remain off the air until security has improved.
Spain
Insulting the crown still a crime
“Insulting the crown” remains a criminal offence in Spain with a punishment of up to two years in prison.
On Sept. 28 a judge in Spain ordered journalist photographer Jordi Ribot to hand over photos that would identify demonstrators, after Catalan nationalist protestors burned effigies of King Juan Carlos on his visit to the city of Gerona.
Though Ribot initially refused, he was forced to comply under threat of being charged with “disobedience to judicial authority”. Under Article 556 of the criminal law Ribot faced six months to one year in jail, according to Reporters Without Borders.
This came after the courts ordered the seizure of satirical paper El Jueves in July for a cover representing Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letiza having sexual intercourse. The cartoon was part of a commentary on the government’s policy of encouraging a higher birth rate through financial rewards.
In another case, two journalists and contributors to Basque media Deia and Gara, had to appear before a court on Sept. 17 because they created a photocomposition showing King Juan Carlos hunting a bear, which had been drugged to make it easier to catch. Josetxu Rodriguez and Javier Ripa published the photocomposition in December 2006.
When Nicola Lococo from the daily Gara used the illustration for his own story, he also had to appear in court under the same charges.
The three face six to 24 months in prison under Articles 490 and 491 of the criminal law, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The law hasn’t been used that often in Spain because of the King’s personal popularity. But according to the Times, “the affection towards the King does not always extend to the institution itself. In a country with a strong republican streak, many pointedly call themselves Juancarlistas – supporters of Juan Carlos – not monarchists.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan Reporter interrogated for his sources
The Sri Lankan government interrogated Indika Sakalasooriya, a reporter of the Colombo-based newspaper, The Nation, on Sept. 14 over his report on a scandal involving the President Mahinda Rajapakse’s son, Namal Rajapakse, reported news organization Free Media Sri Lanka
According to Sakalasooriya, Rajapakse imported a British-made luxury car without paying custom duty. The police asked the journalist to identify his sources.
The Free Media Movement organization requests that the government not force journalists to divulge their sources and respect journalists' right to protect their sources.
Syria
Syrian Journalist held in detention
The Syrian journalist Ata Farahat has been held in detention for the past two months at Al-Jalama prison. A reporter for the daily newspaper Al-Watan, www.al-watan.com Farahat has been brought before a Tel Aviv judge three times to have his detention reviewed, but was refused, reported ANH global news agency.
The judge has also refused to lift a gag order preventing Farahat's lawyers and the Israeli media from talking about the case, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression (SCM) believes that Farahat may have been charged with “establishing contacts with an enemy nation,” RSF reported, which has also written a letter to the justice minister Daniel Friedmans requesting his release.
The next hearing in his case is due to take place on 8 October.
Tajikistan
New Laws could Restrict Speech
The media freedom representative for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Miklos Haraszti, urged the Tajik government on Sept. 21 to curb recent changes to its criminal code as they could restrict the people’s freedom of speech, and further asked lawmakers to change the legislation more akin to Western standards, the OSCE said in a press release.
The recently signed amendments by Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon could hold Tajik citizens culpable for simply taking part in Internet conversations via forums or chat groups.
Haraszti cited particular phrases as concerning, targeting the “intentional distribution via the Internet of knowingly false, libelous and insulting information, as well as expletive words and phrases which denigrate the dignity of human personality.”
Haraszti calls such language as “vague,” making such things as online debates, discussions, emails, online journals, news portals and personal web sites accountable under these new laws.
Tunisia
Journalist manhandled by police
Al-Jazeera correspondent Lotfi Hajji has been manhandled by plain-clothes police in Tunisia four times in the past week, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The incidents occurred after Hajji visited the headquarters of the opposition Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) to report on a hunger strike by its secretary-general, Maya Jribi, and by NŽjib Chebbi, the editor of the party's newspaper, Al Maoukif. Their hunger strike began Sept. 20, protesting the authorities' decision to close the premises that house the party's headquarters.
“Hajji has never been allowed to work freely,” the press freedom organization said. “After refusing to issue him with a press card and banning him from opening an Al-Jazeera bureau in Tunisia, the authorities are now making frequent use of force to censor this independent journalist.”
Turkey
Acquitted of one charge, facing three more
Al-Jazeera journalist Sinan Kara, has been acquitted of charges for criticizing the army in an article titled “Barracks Party” where he criticized the Turkish army, according to BIANET, a Turkish Network for Monitoring and Covering Media Freedom and Independent Journalism.
The Beyoglu Penal Court in Istanbul ruled that there were “no elements of crime” in the article under Article 301. Article 301, which took effect in 2005, gives legal right to imprison those that denigrate the government of the country, the judicial institution, the military or security organizations.
Kara still has to face three other trials in the near future.
He is currently on trial for an article titled “Justice has become Militarism's Jester”, published in the “Toplumsal Demokrasi” (“Social Democracy”) newspaper on Nov. 20 2006. Kara wrote, “justice has become militarism's jester, that the concepts of 'justice' and 'law' mean 'injustice' in this country.”
“Full-time killers,” in which he criticized the state and the army regarding the bombing in Diyarbakir where 10 people – eight of them children – died, has also landed him in trouble. This case will start on 26 October.
The third article “Isolation Knows No Limits,” about solitary confinement in prisons, will see him go to court on Jan. 30 2008. This last piece was published in the newspaper on Nov. 14 2006. Arzuhan Dogan, the president of the Turkish Association of Industrialists and Business People (T†SIAD;
“Instead of running after new definitions of secularism, it would be better to let Turkey have a regime which promises modern democracy and full freedom of expression.”
Turkmenistan
New Comment Feature Removed
On October 10, the Turkmen government instituted a feature on its government website, Altyn Asyr (or Golden Age), allowing readers to post comments.
However, two days later, the feature disappeared without explanation. This feature potentially symbolized a big change for Turkmenistan, which strictly controls the media, and came about during a visit by two EU officials, said Reporters Without Borders.
Of the 15 comments posted, some criticized the former president, and one pled for the release of political prisoners, reported Radio Free Europe. The two-year-old Golden Age website, which provides content in Russian, Turkmen and English, contains stories about the government, events and President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.
United Kingdom
BBC Arabic TV to operate 24 hours a day
The BBC World Service will begin a 24-hour Arabic television service after the station received an additional $ 142 million (101 million euros or 70 million pounds) in funding from the British government.
The money will be spent over the next three years, and besides providing a channel in Farsi language for Iran, it will also allow the BBC Arabic TV to run a 24-hours news service building on it’s current 12-hour service, reported Agence-France Presse.
The station will begin in early 2008 and the newsroom will be based in London, reported the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union.
Chancellor, Alistair Darling, said that the increase in funding will make the World Service’s budget rise from £246m this financial year to £271m in 2010-2011, the Guardian reported.
BBC’s first Arabic TV service began 11 years ago.
The BBC World Service director, Nigel Chapman told the Guardian that the new cash “means that audiences in the Middle East and Iran will have multimedia access – through television, radio, and online – to trusted journalism of the highest standing and increased opportunity for dialogue and debate.”
United States
Anchor sues for millions
On Sept. 12, Former anchor Dan Rather sued CBS for $70 million due to a breach of contract that supposedly occurred when the broadcast company limited his airtime, reported the major news organizations. Rather alleged that the television network made him a “scapegoat” for airing false claims about President Bush’s Vietnam-era service in the Texas Air National Guard on 60 Minutes.
According to an independent study in 2004, CBS News reported that Rather and his colleagues “failed to follow basic journalistic principles in the preparation and reporting of the piece.”
Rather stepped down from his position as anchor and managing editor of “CBS Evening News” in Nov. 2004, two months after the broadcast.
Four other CBS employees lost their jobs because of the incident. Those asked to step down included Senior Vice President Betsy West, who supervised CBS News primetime programs; 60 Minutes Wednesday Executive Producer Josh Howard; and Howard’s deputy, Senior Broadcast Producer Mary Murphy. CBS fired the producer of the piece, Mary Mapes.
Rather’s suit, filed in the State Supreme Court of New York, seeks $20 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. Along with the CBS Corp., defendants in the suit include Sumner Redstone, chief executive of the network's then-parent company, Viacom; CBS Chairman Les Moonves; and former CBS News president Andrew Heyward.
If successful, Rather is suspected to donate any money he may be awarded to further journalistic independence.
Zimbabwe
Journalists marked for surveillance
A leaked copy of a memo from the Zimbabwean intelligent services listed 15 independent journalists to be subjected to surveillance and possible arrests in the run-up to next year's presidential and parliamentary elections, according to Reporters Without Borders http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=23814.
The single page memo with the government's letterhead was published in the Zimbabwean press on September 26 and according the International Federation of Journalists the copy appears to have been leaked from official sources.
The document appears to be dated from June 2007 and is headlined with “2008 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.” Under the subhead “Targeted Journalists” are the names of the 15 journalists. At the bottom is this paragraph: “The following media personnel and others as discussed in the previous meeting are to be placed under strict surveillance and taken in on the various dates set. They're working hand in hand with hostile anti-Zimbabwean western governments. Measures to be taken against the above including those in exile are listed on page 4 summary.”
Journalist and two actors arrested during play
James Jemwa, an independent journalist, and two actors were arrested September 28, 2007 during the performance of The Final Push, a satirical play about a failed protest in 2003 against President Robert Mugabe's government.
According to ZimOnline www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=2103 plain-clothed police officers seated in the audience stormed backstage halfway through the production and arrested actors Slyvanos Mudzvova and Anthony Tongani. Jemwa, who was filming the play, was arrested when he asked police for an explanation.
Technical Director and producer Daniel Maphosa told ZimOnline that Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights has been asked for help in the situation, saying, “The arrest is a travesty of justice and an affront to freedom of expression. Our space for public debate and free expression is shrinking daily.”
According to Reporters Without Borders Jemwa, Mudzvova and Tongani are being held at Harare police headquarters and have not been charged.